BEDS & Pillows

[roztom]

SInce we are all on a Quest for a Good Restful Night's Sleep, I wonder what this very savvy group has come up with in the way of bedding and pillows.

There are some heavily marketed sleep systems around like:

Sleep Number
Ducks
Many Others

I wonder if those of you that have invested in these would be willing to share your experiences and how these specialty beds compare to traditional box springs & mattresses and if they do indeed enhance your sleep experience.

Thanks,

Tom

[idahogal]

Tom,

I have had a sleep number bed and found that it did not work for me. The pump died in the night and the bed deflated. This was a few years ago so maybe technology has changed on them now. I do however, have a bed that I just love and would not give up for anything. It is a partial waterbed. It has a "his side" and "her side" chamber which contains water but it also has springs in it. To look at the bed you would never know it was a waterbed per say. It is contained in a mattress shell and has a pillowtop. It has dual heat controls for my side and his and this makes it nice since I like to sleep colder than he does. You cannot feel the chamber divider and we can each adjust our firmness by the amount of water we put in each chamber. I hope this helps.

[yardbird]

I think the so-called "traditional" box spring is simply inadequate. I had a multi-chambered water bed and loved it. It was made up of like 64 boxes with baffles between them so the water changed position slowly. The problem we eventually had was that my wife had a hard time getting out of bed because she has a bad hip. We now have an all foam matress. No it's not the tempupedic stuff, but it's layered foam and cost a ton less than tempurpedic (which I've heard are quite nice... so this is in no way intended to be AGAINST tempupedic). It doesn't use a box spring. In fact it sits on our waterbed platform. I just got rid of the sides off the platform because this mattress doesn't need sides. We both missed the heated bed. So we bought a heated mattress pad and that took care of that.

What we found is that a correctly designed foam bed gives you the same kind of support that you get on the air and water beds. No pressure points.

The absolute, without a doubt, call-me-crazy-if-you-want, BEST pillow I ever slept on was a $75 all natural, organic, buckwheat pillow. People go, "OH MY GOD! SEVENTY-FIVE dollars for a PILLOW?"

A good quality buckwheat pillow lasts about 10 years. So that's about $7.50 a year or just under 15 cents a week. Most people keep bedding too long. If I could get rid of my foam mattress and get a buckwheat hull mattress I'd do that too. Actually I've been thinking about TOPPING my mattress with a queen sized buckwheat hull futon mattress. Why? No dust mites. Dust mites are awful little ctritters. They thrive in the artificial materials. If you have a waterbed, you usually don't have dust mites (assuming you wash down the mattress occasionally and get rid of all those dead skin flakes), but any other kind of mattress you'll usually have them. However they don't like buckwheat hulls.
And buckwheat hulls are cool in summer and warm in winter and for whatever reason I don't quite understand all the ins and outs of this but you don't sweat. Anyways... I've rambled long enough and surely put myself into the Cliff Claven for a day category...

[rested gal]

I got an adjustable Tempur-Pedic bed last spring. Love it!

Using a double-edge PAPillow. Love that, too!

[cvansant]

Grew up on standard box springs(No, not straw in a gunny sack. I'm not that old.). Wife and I had the same for years. Tried a single bladder water bed. With me at ~200 and her at <125 when I got in or rolled over, she got out. Had a dual bladder, multi baffle system after that. It was the best of the lot. Until we tried the Sleep Comfort. At the store we talked ourselves up to the Imperial. Without a doubt the most comfortable mattress I have ever been on.

No problems either. Slept on it for several years while in California. Moved to Hawaii and the mattress stayed in storage for several months. When we moved into current place. set up went without a hitch and it has been working like a champ since.

[Guest]

I love my Tempurpedic bed. I no longer wake up with aches and pains in the morning. I use the Shapeable pillow from Target.

[roztom]

Is the Sleep COmfort and Sleep Number the same bed?

Tnx,

Tom

[deedster]

I put a memory foam eggcrate topper on my regular mattress. Just the right amount of give without sinking too deep and the eggcrate makes it cooler.

[tlc95066]

We love our temperpedic adjustable bed. It has really made a difference in our sleep quality. I have tried what seems like a gazillion pillows and am now using a feather pillow. I do have the smaller papillow which I like also.
Good Luck!
Teri

[Guest]

roztom,

I think they are the same. At least the ads I see and the remotes look the same. Probably somebody bought out somebody, but I don't know for sure.

Clif

[safemoneypro]

I purchased a sleep number bed based on good old Paul Harvey`s recommendation. Neither me nor my wife could sleep on it and it actually caused us both back pain. I gave it away and the folks we gave it to could not use it either. I called the slect comfort people and they did not want to talk about me sending it back. I would recommend that anyone steer clear of this overpriced gimmac of a product.

[sir_cumference]

We've had a Tempur matress for about 7 years now and wouldn't go back to a standard bed. It is sooo good at dealing with those little niggly aches and pains and you feel so rested when you wake up ... and from what I've read above, we're not the only ones!
sir_c

[WAFlowers]

This spring we will be replacing our 9-year old inner-spring mattress and box spring and getting a custom-designed 9" mattress consisting of three layers of foam. From top to bottom:

3" Sensus memory foam (ILD 13, density 5.0)
3" Talatech Latex (ILD 28, density 4.5)
3" Talatech Latex (ILD 35, density 4.5)

Actually we are debating between 3" of memory foam and 3" of 14 ILD latex as the top layer.

Based on current foam prices this will cost approx. $1375 for a king size.

I've recently experienced sleeping on memory foam over an old futon mattress and that gave me a superior night's sleep compared to what I had with our current mattress, even when new!

FYI, the density has nothing to do (directly) with comfort, but is directly related to wear. A 5.0 density layer will last longer than a lower density.

The ILD raiting determines how much you sink into the layer. A higher number is firmer.

[Linda3032]

Bill, I would really like some more info on your "future" mattress. I've been reading mattress info until I'm blue in the face (kinda like pre-cpap days). Is a local manufacturer making it for you?

We currently have an expensive spring mattress set that has been the worst set ever, and need to get rid of it. My cheap 25 year old foam set from Sears was 100% better than our new expensive set. It had a lot of good memories tied to it too.

To those of you who currently use a foam mattress:

1. Does it just have a thin coverlet over the foam, or is it entirely encased like a traditional mattress?

2. Do you use a "box springs", or do you have to use a platform? I have an antique bedframe (modified to accomodate a king set), and kinda want to use my current box springs. Is that possible or adviseable?

[Guest]

Here are some past entries on this subject:

Interesting discussion. What has been stated for the cheaperpedic is basically correct. And is being done by many matress manufacturers. Tempurpedic is the standard. The marketing experts, the ones whom took the concept and made it famous. There is a tremendous cost to this and that is why they are so expensive. But they do it right and with no shortcuts. That is the basic problem in trying to get a productg similiar to Tempurpedic but not pay that much money. So many companies try to compare themselves to Tempurpedic but take shortcuts with the foam so are not really the same experience. I currently sell Englander and USA mattresses. I have also sold retail Sealy and Simmons and King Koil. I can sell a product like the Cheapopedic for $899.00 retail for king. But I will admitg, it is not the same as the Tempurpedic. I can sell the same thing...basically for $1699 retail. I can surpass and give your the ultimate matress for $8999 retail. There are so many combinations and types of foam out there one can go on forever.

Now I personally sleep on the following. A platform base. An 14 inch mattress using latex foam, natural not fake, with a 5 inch, five density layer of memory foam with a 1 1/2 inch layer of polyfill fiber on top of the momory foam so it is not hot in my hot climate of Texas. I have a 100 percent cotton ticking on it. I love it, I had it custom made for my and my wifes tastes and after much testing and experimenting over the years working around mattresses my whole life. It would retail for about $1499 for queen (my wife and I are snugglers and I don't like searching for her over a king size).

Moral here is you can build your own. But search around and you will find one for you witho9ut the hassle. I personally sell over 500 different models. And I work for two brands and there are thousands out there. If you don't want to shop around then the standard is Tempurpedic with four models. It is the safest route.

and

R&R, thanks for commenting. You've confirmed the conclusions I came to.

Can a person with a lab rat / geek / DIY personality build a quality, custom made mattress for themselves and save money doing it? If they care to take the time locating quality materials and the effort to assemble their own mattress it seems that the answer is "YES".

It is possible to save even more money in the short term by compromising the quality of some components (e.g. base foam) recognizing that it will wear out sooner and need to be replaced. And this is what I've seen a lot of people do using the JC Penny firm or extra-firm foam "topper" as a base. However the issue of quality compromise to save money also applies to purchasing a commercial mattress ranging all the way from no-name brands for cheap to no-compromise products like Tempur-Pedic at the high end.

People that want to save some (maybe a lot) of money but not do the entire DIY route could look at the mattress kits available from http://www.memoryfoam.com and possibly other suppliers.

However as noted here, most people aren't willing to DIY even to that extent viewing it as difficult and a "black art".

Can a person buy a quality commercial mattress which competes with or at least approaches the quality of a Tempur-Pedic but costs less? Clearly the answer is yes. They exist and from what you've said in this thread and others products like the King Koil are one possible source.

However if you look at what reasonable markups and marketing costs (probably the largest factor IMO) would be then it isn't possible to produce a product that is significantly less expensive than the Sealys and King Koils of the world. Although (some of) those are much less than Tempur-Pedic. Not that I was ever proposing that you, I or anyone try and make a commercial mattress to compete in that marketplace.

BTW, your own personal mattress sounds fascinating and incredibly comfortable. I'm amazed that you think such a thing could retail for as little as you indicate .

Finally, I'm unclear from your various postings where you stand in the distribution chain. You seem to be in the sales end, but I'm not sure if you are in retail or wholesale. Just curious.

I am a broker. I sell for several factories all over the world to the furniture stores.